Inhale
by gleefan13
Summary: Post 2x08/Alternate Ending to 2x08 in which Callie isn't quite as fine as she originally seems and Stef finds herself in the ER listening to a doctor explain, "with smoke inhalation injuries, symptoms are often delayed."
1. Part 1

A/N: Alright...so this is a post 2x08 fic/an alternate ending to 2x08 and it will be pretty short (just two parts). The whole concept is based on like two hours worth of research and, since I'm definitely not a doctor, please forgive any medical inaccuracies - I've tried to gloss over the medical stuff to keep those inaccuracies to a minimum but I'm 100% sure at least something I've written is wrong on the medical front. Anyway, enough rambling...

xxxxxx

_Inhale. Exhale._

As Stef watched Callie's chest rise and fall she repeated these two words over and over in her head, counting the breaths, attempting to distract herself from the reality. Although, she couldn't distract herself for long. She never got past twenty in her count before her eyes invariably drifted upwards, towards Callie's face, and, invariably, every time, her heart constricted and her breath caught in her throat.

The site of the tube down her daughter's throat remained shocking, remained physically painful to see, all of these hours later.

xxxxxx

_20 Hours Ago _

Stef was nearly asleep when her cell phone started ringing, the noise causing her to jump. She fumbled a moment in the dark before she managed to grab a hold of the phone and bring it up to her ear, "Hello?"

"_Stef…"_ the voice on the other end of the phone was barely more than a whisper.

"Callie, love?" Stef asked, sitting up and reaching over to turn her bedside lamp on.

"_I…uh…I need you to come get me,"_ Callie mumbled out.

"Are you okay?" Stef frowned, suddenly worried and already getting out of bed.

"_There was..umm…"_ Callie took a breath and then rushed out her next words, _"a house fire."_

At Callie's words, Stef picked up her pace, taking the stairs two at a time, "Are you okay?"

"_I'm fine,"_ Callie rushed to confirm.

Slipping on her shoes, Stef exhaled the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, "I'll be right there."

xxxxxx

_19 Hours Ago_

Callie stepped out of the master bathroom with wet hair and in fresh pajamas. She felt much better now that she wasn't covered in a layer of soot. As she exited the bathroom and stepped into the bedroom, she shuffled her feet, not really sure what to do with herself.

Stef set the book she'd been holding, but not actually reading, down on the nightstand, and, sensing Callie's hesitancy, patted the empty spot on the bed beside her, "Come on up love."

Callie hesitated only a second longer before she moved closer and climbed up onto the bed beside Stef, leaning in to the hug that was immediately offered.

Stef hugged Callie tightly a minute before she pulled back. Watching Callie stifle a yawn, she smiled gently, "Ready for sleep?"

Callie nodded and Stef reached forward, smoothing the girl's wet hair and kissing the top of her head before she rolled over and turned off the bedside lamp.

xxxxxx

_14 Hours Ago _

Stef woke up confused. Squinting into the darkness, it took her sleep-addled brain a minute to realize what the problem was. Callie was no longer beside her in the bed. She sat up quickly then, concerned.

It didn't take her long to locate the girl. The loud hacking sound coming from the master bathroom could only really be one person.

Stef rapped on the door but didn't wait for an answer to push it open - the site she was faced with immediately confirming that she had made the right decision. Striding quickly over to the sink that her daughter was hunched over, Stef placed her hand on the girl's lower back, just as Callie's coughing fit cumulated with her spitting out a significant amount of mucus. The action was accompanied by a shudder and a gagging noise.

"Sshh…" Stef soothed, rubbing her hand up and down Callie's back.

Callie turned the tap on, watching the clear mucus, speckled with something black that she guessed was soot, disappear down the drain, before she titled her head in Stef's direction, "I'm sorry I woke you up."

Stef raised an incredulously eyebrow, "Unless you revise that to, I'm sorry I _didn't _wake you up when I wasn't feeling well, I'm not accepting your apology missy," she scolded half-seriously. She paused a minute before she reached up and brushed some hair out of Callie's eyes, asking concerned, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Callie nodded.

"Are you sure?" Stef asked, still sounding concerned.

"Mmhmm…" Callie nodded, "…can we go back to sleep?"

Stef watched her carefully, hesitating a minute, still not convinced, before finally she nodded.

xxxxxx

_12 Hours Ago_

Stef woke once more, this time to light streaming in through her window. She rolled over, glad to find Callie still asleep beside her in the bed, curled up in a ball.

She smiled gently as she reached over and placed her hand on Callie's back. The smile quickly turned to a frown though as she felt the rattling under her palm that accompanied every breath Callie took.

xxxxxx

_11 Hours Ago_

Despite Callie's protests, Stef wasted little time taking her daughter to the ER once it became clear how labored her breathing was becoming.

The waiting room in the ER was crowded but the line waiting to be triaged shuffled quickly. When it was Callie's turn to see the triage nurse, Stef did most of the talking, explaining that Callie had been in a fire and that now she was having a difficult time breathing and had been coughing up mucus. Callie was immediately ushered in and placed in a hospital bed.

Within five minutes an ER doctor was pulling back the curtain to talk to them. He listened to Callie's lungs, asked her how long she'd been exposed to the smoke – the answer a length of time that seemed too long and made Stef raise a curious eyebrow, making note to question the girl later – and then ordered a battery of tests.

Before they did anything else, they strapped an oxygen mask to Callie's face, making conversation difficult. So, Stef just sat beside her, holding her hand tightly, and murmuring soft words of comfort, while a nurse started an IV and drew several vials of blood.

It wasn't until Callie was wheeled away to have a chest x-ray and a bronchoscopy done, that Stef allowed herself to bury her head in her hands and succumb momentarily to the panic that was clawing at her chest.

Although the panic didn't subside, eventually she raised her head. She had to call her wife.

xxxxxx

_10 Hours Ago_

They brought Callie back to the ER after the bronchoscopy. Stef watched Callie carefully as the wheels of the gurney were locked into place. Callie stirred on the gurney but her eyes didn't open – the sedative they'd used to complete the bronchoscopy yet to have worn off. Stef ran her hand along Callie's arm, not taking her eyes off of her daughter until the ER doctor came back over, motioning that he wanted to speak to her.

They took a couple of steps away from Callie before Stef asked, "Is she okay?"

The doctor took a breath before he explained, "I want to move her to the ICU."

"The ICU?" Stef frowned. _Wasn't the ICU for people who were really sick?_ Stef shuddered at the thought, the panic mounting once again, even higher than before.

"We saw edema and inflammation when we did the bronchoscopy. We would like to intubate now before it becomes more difficult, or impossible, to do so," the doctor explained.

"Intubate? Is that…necessary?" Stef's frown deepened. She felt like someone was twisting her stomach in knots. "I don't understand how…she…she was fine right after she left the burning building."

The doctor nodded, not surprised by the confusion, "With smoke inhalation injuries, symptoms are often delayed until the edema grows sufficiently large to impair the airway diameter, which is what has happened in Callie's case. The concern is that the edema and the inflammation will only get worse over the next several hours. Putting Callie on machine ventilation now is really the most prudent course of action."

Stef rubbed her hand across her face, "I…my wife is on her way. She was away…it's a long drive." _How could she possibly make these decisions without Lena?_

The doctor nodded sympathetically, "I understand but we really shouldn't wait much longer. I want to move Callie up to the ICU now and I'm sure they'll want to intubate within the next hour."

xxxxxx

_9 Hours Ago_

Stef sat beside Callie in the ICU. The wide frightened eyes staring back at her made her stomach clench and her heart ache. She was supposed to be her children's protector but she wasn't sure how to make this better.

"I know it sounds scary sweets," Stef hummed, running her thumb along the back of Callie's hand, "but they're going to sedate you and when you wake up again you're going to feel so much better."

Callie reached up and pulled the oxygen mask away from her face. Stef moved to stop her but the determined look on Callie's face froze her hand midair.

With the oxygen mask no longer impeding her, Callie's lower lip trembled and she wheezed as spoke, "Will you tell Jude that I love him?"

If Stef's heart had ached before, now it was broken, "Oh baby," she murmured, leaning in closer and brushing hair out of Callie's face, "Love, you're going to be able to tell him yourself. The ventilation will just be temporary. Until your lungs are better."

Callie's lower lip trembled again, tears starting to collect in the corner of her eyes, "I…" she started but stopped not sure what she wanted to say. _That she was terrified? _Her chest rose and fell in a labored effort as she tried to come up with the right words.

"Sshh…" Stef hummed, prying the oxygen mask from Callie's fingers and easing it back in place over her mouth and nose, not liking her labored breathing one bit. "Just listen to me. I love you, Callie. Mama loves you too. And Brandon and Jesus and Mariana and Jude love you. We all love you. You know that. Yes?" She waited for Callie's nod of confirmation. "And just like you know that we love you, we know that you love us. Okay? So you don't have to tell Jude, and I don't have to tell Jude for you. He already knows."

Some of the tears that had been collecting spilled out from the corners of Callie's eyes then and Stef reached up and caught one with the pad of her thumb. She leaned in a kissed Callie's temple before she spoke again, "It's okay if you're scared Callie. This is scary. But, love, I'm not leaving. I'm still going to be sitting here holding your hand when you wake up," she squeezed Callie's fingers tightly, as if to strengthen her words, "I promise. Okay?"

Callie blinked slowly, watching Stef for several long minutes before she mouthed a single word through the oxygen mask. "Okay."

xxxxxx

_3 Hour Ago_

When Stef got a text from Lena saying that she'd dropped Jude off back at home and that she was on her way to the hospital, she immediately went downstairs to wait in the lobby.

For that reason, Stef's face was the first thing that Lena saw when she walked into the hospital. The site of her wife, standing there with slumped shoulders, looking exhausted, nearly sucked all of the air out of Lena's lungs and for a moment she wondered if that breathlessness was how Callie felt – or at least how Callie had felt before they sedated her and she didn't feel anything at all. Lena didn't get to contemplate that thought long though because within seconds Stef was in front of her, wrapping her arms around her, and burying her head in her shoulder.

"You're here," Stef mumbled into Lena's shoulder.

"I am," Lena confirmed, rubbing her hand across Stef's back, providing her wife as much comfort as she was drawing from her.

Stef clung to Lena a moment longer before she pulled back, rubbing at her face with the back of her hand, and sighing.

"Can I see her?" Lena asked, her desperation to see Callie evident in her tone.

Stef just nodded, grabbing Lena's hand and pulling her towards the elevator. As they went up the four floors to the ICU, Stef tried to warn Lena about what awaited them. She explained about all of the wires, and the beeping machines, about the tube down Callie's throat, and the awful whirring sound that the ventilator made.

Despite Stef's warnings, when they stepped closer to Callie's hospital bed, Lena's hand flew to her mouth and she stifled a gasp – hearing about and _seeing _were two completely different things. _Her poor baby._ Mindful of the wires and tubes, Lena stepped closer, gingerly taking Callie's hand in her own, and leaning down to kiss first one and then the other of Callie's closed eyelids, as she whispered, "Mama's here sweetheart. I love you."

As she took a seat beside Callie's bed, the girl's fingers still clutched in her own, Lena couldn't help but think that she'd already lost one daughter in this hospital, she couldn't lose another.

xxxxxx

_Present_

Stef could only stand to look at the tube down Callie's throat for a minute before she had to force her eyes to drift again. They passed momentarily over Lena, who was sitting on the other side of the ICU bed with Callie's right hand clutched firmly in her own, before they returned to their original position. She watched Callie's chest rise and fall and she began her count once more.

_Inhale._


	2. Part 2

The next three days were some of the longest of Stef's life. They melded together in a blur of nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists, of bad coffee and sleepless night.

Despite first Lena, and then her mother, urging her to go home for a while, Stef refused to leave Callie's bedside for more than twenty minutes at time – just long enough to eat or to shower in the bathroom that was provided for families of patients in the ICU. She'd promised her daughter that she would still be here holding her hand when she woke up and she wasn't going to go back on that promise. Callie deserved that much from her.

xxxxxx

"I called your mother," Lena told Stef eighteen hours after Callie had been put on the ventilator.

"Huh?" Stef squinted over at her wife confused.

"Your mother. She's coming to stay at the house," Lena explained.

"My mother is coming to stay at the house?" Stef repeated as she suppressed the urge to groan. It wasn't that she didn't love her mother it was just that, whenever she was around, Stef could feel her stress levels rising. She didn't think she could handle any more stress right now.

"We have four other kids to take care of Stef. Four other_ scared_ kids," Lena reminded her. She'd been back home briefly the night before to check on them and it had been pretty clear that they were all upset about Callie being in the hospital. "You've already said that you're not leaving this hospital and, to be honest, I don't really want to be far from here either. If your mom's at the house, we won't have to worry so much…"She trailed off as her eyes drifted towards Callie, the unspoken words clear. They might not have to worry so much about their other kids with Sharon staying with them but the worry about Callie was not going to go anywhere. _That _worry was like a weight pressing on Lena's chest.

Stef opened her mouth but then she closed it immediately. Of course Lena was right, she usually was. She watched Lena watching Callie a moment before she sighed, "Lena…" the name was soft, a whisper, but Lena's eyes immediately found hers. Stef could have chosen to say a lot of things but instead she said the only thing that mattered "…I love you."

"I love you too Stef," Lena's words were immediate and sincere and they said so much more than just _I love you_. They said _we are going to get through this_.

xxxxxx

Robert Quinn came by on the afternoon of the second day. He slipped into the room so quietly that when Stef looked up and caught sight of him, she was startled. She had no clue how he'd found out about Callie or how he'd managed to be let into the ICU and at the sight of him she inhaled sharply, the, "Hello," sounding a lot more curt than she intended.

"Hi…I..uh.." Robert's eyes drifted from Stef to Callie, paling at the sight of the girl, "…I called your house about having Callie and Jude come over for dinner…Lena told me she was here. I know I should have asked about coming to visit but…"

Stef sighed, running her head tiredly through her hair and motioning for him to sit in the chair that Lena usually occupied. She looked over at the clock before she looked back at him, "The respiratory therapist will be coming by in fifteen minutes but you can stay until then." Her words weren't delivered unkindly but they made her point clear, he could visit but he wasn't staying. Staying was for parents and he was _not _her parent.

"Oh…okay," Robert nodded. He sat stiffly in the chair and turned his eyes back towards Callie, clearly unsure what to do with himself. He watched her for a few minutes before he looked back over at Stef, prepared to ask her a few questions about Callie's treatment, but the other woman wasn't looking at him, she was watching Callie intently.

Stef eyed Callie carefully, noticing the way her forehead was starting to wrinkle into a frown. It was an action that had become fairly common over the last days but it never ceased to make Stef's stomach turn uneasily in worry that the sedatives meant to keep her daughter calm might actually be doing the opposite. As she had done every other time the wrinkles had started to form, Stef reached forward and smoothed them gently with the pad of her thumb, leaning in to whisper in Callie's ear, _"It's okay love, I'm right here."_

Whether it was because of Stef's words or the soothing motion of her fingers on her forehead, the frown that had been forming, instantly disappeared. Yet, Stef continued to run her thumb gently along Callie's forehead for several more minutes before she pulled her hand away and leaned back in her chair.

Robert watched the exchange quietly and, even when Stef pulled away from the girl, he couldn't quite bring himself to ask his questions anymore.

Five minutes later when, as Stef had predicted, the respiratory therapist approached Callie's bed, Robert patted Callie's arm before standing. He walked five steps before he stopped and turned around. "Stef?" He called, waiting for Stef to look up towards him to continue, "I'll talk to the lawyers. I'll make sure those abandonment papers get signed this week."

xxxxxx

Early in the morning of the third day, Lena was sitting alone beside Callie's hospital bed, having sent Stef down to the cafeteria to eat something and get some much needed coffee. She was holding Callie's hand, rubbing her thumb along the back of it, and speaking gently to her. She wasn't really sure if Callie could understand or even hear what she was saying but she held hope that the sound of her voice was at least somewhat soothing to her daughter.

She talked about everything and anything – about her and Jude's camping trip, about how Rita had stopped by to visit yesterday, about Grandma Sharon's attempts to reign in her siblings as she held down the fort at home, about how her siblings couldn't wait until she was out of the ICU, where the visiting age was eighteen, so that they could come see her. She paused her stories every once and awhile to add tenderly, "And, Callie, sweetheart, just so you know, I love you."

Lena spoke uninterrupted until the respiratory therapist approached Callie's bed, pushing her chair back to get out of the way.

The respiratory therapist spoke briefly with Lena before she turned her attention to Callie. She moved Callie carefully from side to side, as had been done every two hours since the girl was intubated, and then she percussed Callie's chest, the motion loosing secretions that she quickly suctioned out of Callie's breathing tube.

Lena watched the now common routine through her hands. Even though, by this point, she'd seen this therapy done more times than she could count, it still made her shudder. She hated the noise that the respiratory therapist's hands made as they kneaded against Callie's chest. The only noise worse was the sound of the suction device they used to remove the loosened secretions from Callie's lungs. Lena was fairly certain she was going to have nightmares about that noise for the rest of her life. She was going to have nightmares about a lot of things. Stef being shot had been hard, really hard, but these last few days, seeing her daughter, her baby, lying in this hospital bed helpless, a machine breathing for her, well, it was a whole different world of difficult.

Finishing suctioning, the respiratory therapist glanced over towards Lena, who pulled her hands away from her face and sat up straighter.

"Not much this time," the respiratory therapist smiled encouragingly before she added, "It's a good sign. It means she should be ready to get off the vent soon."

At those words, Lena smiled a genuine smile for what felt like the first time in days. She couldn't wait for Stef to get back from the cafeteria so that she could tell her.

xxxxxx

Callie spent twelve more hours on the ventilator before the doctor agreed that they could try and wean her.

Lena listened horrified as the doctor explained that to wean Callie off the ventilator she had to be awake. They would reduce her sedation until she woke and then they would do a thirty minute spontaneous breathing trial. They wouldn't extubate until she passed that breathing trial.

After speaking with the doctor, Lena and Stef sat on either side of Callie's bed, each clutching one of her hands tightly in their own, as they waited for the sedation to start to wear off.

It took a while but slowly Callie's eyes blinked open, she squinted and then immediately slammed them back shut. When she opened them again a second later, the confusion was evident as she instinctively tried to pull her hands away from Stef and Lena.

Stef managed to keep ahold of Callie's left hand put Lena hadn't been expecting the sudden violent pull and Callie's right hand slipped out of hers, immediately drifting up towards her face. Lena managed to grab ahold of it again, pulling it back down towards the bed before Callie could touch the tube that disappeared into her mouth.

"Sshh, it's okay," Lena immediately soothed, keeping a firm grip on Callie's right hand now as she stood, bending over the bed so that she would appear easily in Callie's line of site. She waited for her daughter's darting eyes to settle on her face, thankful when she saw the recognition in them, before she reached up to with her free hand to run her hand across the top of Callie's head, continuing to soothe, "Sshh...Callie, it's okay sweetheart, you're in the hospital…sshh…it's okay…"

Callie relaxed considerably at Lena's murmurings, her brown eyes remaining fixed on Lena's for several minutes before they narrowed, puzzled, and darted to her left, to where Stef was still seated holding her hand.

Stef stood then, following Lena's lead and placing herself in Callie's line of site, "Hi love," she murmured softly, "I'm right here." She squeezed Callie's hand raising it up so that Callie could see it before she kissed it.

Callie moved her lips as if she was trying to say something but quickly frowned when she realized that speaking was impossible.

Catching the frown, Stef spoke quickly, "There's a tube down your throat helping you breathe right now Callie. Do you remember why? Do you remember me taking you to the hospital? Just blink once for yes and twice for no."

Callie watched Stef carefully as she spoke, slowly blinking once in answer to the question.

"Good," Stef nodded, "that's good. Your lungs are much better now, love. They want to take the tube out but they've got to a test first. Okay?"

Callie blinked once but Stef could see the fear in her eyes and it made her heart ache.

"It's okay Callie, all they're going to do is change the ventilator settings so that you can try breathing on your own. All you have to do is inhale and exhale," Stef explained to the girl, "Do you think you can handle that? Mama and I will be here the whole time."

Callie blinked once again, this time looking a lot less scared.

"We love you sweetheart," Lena spoke again then, leaning in to kiss Callie's forehead before sitting back down in her chair

Stef followed Lena's lead, kissing Callie's forehead and settling back into her chair as well.

A nurse came over then and made the necessary adjustments to the ventilator, starting the test.

As the nurse walked away, Stef could feel Callie's eyes looking in her direction, she smiled gently at her daughter, before she offered softly, "Just inhale and exhale. Yes?"

xxxxxx

Callie passed the thirty-minute spontaneous breathing trial on the first try and Stef and Lena were ushered away from their seats as a nurse and doctor took their places, standing on either side of Callie at the head of the bed.

Unwilling to leave the room during the extubation, Stef and Lena settled for standing at the foot of the bed. As the doctor and nurse fluttered around preparing for the extubation, Stef reached forward and placed her hand over one of Callie's feet, squeezing gently through the sheet – it wasn't quite the same as holding her daughter's hand but the contact made her rapidly beating heart settle just a bit.

Without meaning to, Lena held her breath as the doctor finally pulled the tube from Callie's throat, watching as Callie sputtered and coughed as the last bit of the tube was pulled from her mouth, and the nurse slipped an oxygen mask over her face. Lena didn't let the breath out until the nurse motioned that she could move forward now. She moved quickly back over to Callie's side, not needing to look at Stef to know that her wife had moved just as quickly to the girl's other side.

"You did great Callie," Lena told her daughter, her eyes on the girl's face.

"So great," Stef hummed her agreement, reaching forward and brushing at Callie's hair.

Callie watched them both a minute, glancing back and forth between the two of them, before she opened her mouth, the oxygen mask fogging up as she croaked out, "Love you."

After days of not speaking the words came out sounding rough and they were difficult to make out through the oxygen mask but they were words and Callie was speaking them and that was all that mattered.

After days of not being able to talk to her daughter, after days of not hearing her daughter's voice, Lena was pretty sure that Callie could have said anything and she would have cried just as hard as she was crying right then.

"We love you too," Stef answered for the both of them, a smile on her lips. The smile slowly turned to a smirk, "Just try not to scare us like that again…okay?"

xxxxxx

They moved Callie out of the ICU the following day and two days after that Stef and Lena were bringing her home.

After Stef pulled into the driveway and shifted the car into park, Callie unsnapped her seatbelt, opened the door and got out of the car slowly. She wasn't surprised when Stef immediately wrapped her arm around her waist and helped her walk towards the house, Lena rushing ahead to hold the front door open widely for them.

Despite Stef's assistance, making it from the car to the front porch and then up the steps to the front door, left Callie panting for breath. Lena shared a concerned look with Stef – the doctor had mentioned that Callie's lungs would take a while to fully heal but that didn't make it any easier to see their daughter in obvious discomfort.

Not willing to let Callie walk any further, Stef stopped her.

"What…" Callie started confused, her eyes widening as Stef placed her hand under her knees and pulled her up into her arms, cradling her head against her chest, "I…can…walk…" she puffed each word out.

"Save your breath love, you're not going to win this one," Stef smirked, kissing the top of Callie's head.

Callie looked over at Lena, as if expecting some backup but Lena just shrugged, smiling "When she gets an idea in her head, there's not much point arguing." The truth was, Lena was glad that Stef had picked Callie up. If the front steps had been a challenge, Lena wasn't sure how Callie would have made it up the stairs alone.

Callie sighed softly but she didn't look upset as Stef carried her up the stairs and walked towards one of the bedrooms with Lena trailing behind them.

"This is your room," Callie blinked, confused as they stepped into the room.

"Why yes it is. How astute of you to notice," Stef teased lightly as she set Callie down on the bed, helping her lean back against the pillows.

"But…" Callie's forehead wrinkled, still confused.

Stef reached forward and smoothed the wrinkles with her thumb, the same action she had completed many times in the ICU, "But what?"

"Why am I not in my room?" Callie asked as Stef took a seat on the edge of the bed and Lena climbed up to sit beside her.

Stef shrugged, "Our bed is more comfortable?"

Lena shook her head, reaching over and tucking a piece of Callie's hair behind her ear, "We just figured it would be easier to keep an eye on you if you camped out here for a few days. Is that okay?"

Callie looked down at her hands. Even though she'd been with the Fosters for a while now, sometimes it was still hard to get used to people _wanting_ to take care of her. It was also hard getting used to people giving her choices, wanting her opinions. "I guess," Callie whispered, feeling bad that they had to worry about taking care of her at all.

Seeing Callie's reaction, Stef tried to lighten the mood, "I mean, if you'd rather sleep in your bed that's fine too. I _love_ sleeping on the floor."

Callie looked up her eyes widening at the implication that Stef would spend the night in her room on the floor.

"Don't look so surprised sweets," Stef laughed, "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight any time soon, you clearly don't know me very well." She reached forward and patted Callie's knee gently, her voice dropping, her tone much more serious, "Bear with me please…I'm probably going to need to be able to check that you're still breathing for a while. Do you know how scary it was seeing you on that ventilator?"

"I'm sorry," Callie instantly mumbled, her gaze dropping to her lap again.

"Hey…" Stef reached forward and hooked her finger under Callie's chin, tilting it up so that she was looking at her, "…none of that. In this family we only apologize for things that actually require apologies. Got it? Should you not have gone back into that burning building? Of course. You've already heard that lecture. But, Callie, being sick isn't something you _ever _have to apologize for. And mama and I worrying about you…well that happens even when you're not sick."

"Mom is right honey," Lena hummed from beside Callie, reaching for her hand and squeezing it, "moms worry, that's our job. Children aren't supposed to apologize for that. And I certainly do not want _our_ children to ever feel like they have to."

Callie nodded, not really sure what to say but glad to hear that they weren't upset with her. Sometimes she still needed reassurance even though she knew she shouldn't.

"Oh hey…" Stef's tone was light again, "…speaking about _our _children…" her eyes drifted towards Lena, waiting for her wife's nod to continue before she looked back to Callie, "I hope you still want to be ours officially."

Callie tilted her head, a bit confused at the segue, "Umm…yes?" It came out sounding hesitant, unsure because she had no clue where Stef was going with her words.

It wasn't the enthusiastic response Stef hoped for and suddenly she felt nervous. _What if Callie didn't want to be adopted anymore?_ She pushed those thoughts aside. "We got some good news yesterday…well…news that I hope you'll think is good. Robert Quinn_ finally _signed the abandonment papers. There's nothing else in the way of the adoption. Nothing else in the way of you becoming officially _ours_."

Callie's eyes widened, this time in excitement, as a grin broke out across her face, "Really?"

The reaction was exactly the reaction that Stef was hoping for and she felt herself relax, grinning too, as Lena confirmed, "Really."

"I…that's…amazing," Callie's eyes were suddenly misty. She wanted nothing more than to be adopted by these women who loved her. She'd known that was what she wanted before the fire, before the smoke inhalation and the hospital and the ventilator, but she knew it even more now. Any confusion that Robert and Sophia Quinn may have briefly caused her no longer existed. Waking up with that tube down her throat had been terrifying but then Lena was murmuring to her and Stef was still holding her hand just like she'd promised and Callie hadn't been scared anymore. She'd forgotten what that was like – having parents who not only made her feel loved but who could take her fear away as if it were as easy as breathing. She belonged with them. Stef and Lena already _were _her mothers and now it would be official and she couldn't be happier about that news.

Seeing Callie's eyes water, Stef immediately leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her tight against her chest. She unfurled her arms momentarily to let Lena join the hug, the other woman's arms snaking around Stef and Callie, creating a mama sandwich.

"I love you Callie," Stef whispered into the girl's ear, pulling her, impossibly, even closer. Close enough that she could feel every breath Callie took. Each inhale a reminder that her daughter was alive. Each inhale a reminder of just _how much_ she loved her.


End file.
